The Others
by Annab3ll3 L33
Summary: If this is the best of all possible worlds, what then are the others?
1. Chapter 1

**The Others**

A Danny Phantom Fanfiction by Annab3ll3 L33

---

**Prologue**

"_If this is the best of all possible worlds...what then are the others?"-Francois Voltaire_

Have you ever considered how horrible things could be? Or how lucky you are to even be alive? There are thousands of eggs in a female's body, and each of them are different. What if all of your family died instantly, and you were left with a horrible foster family? Or if you were the only person on the face of the Earth that was happy? Imagine being around thousands of people, but they all looked completely hopeless, like they were always considering suicide. Maybe the person you thought was your friend was really plotting to kill you. Imagine how hard that would be on you. Some people have it much worse off then you, and when you are the most miserable person on the face of the planet, most likely you will not be for long.

Admittedly, this is a depressing thought, and it was not very tactical for me to bring it up at the beginning of a story. It is probably not much of a hook.

Moving on.

There are multiple names for me, but I prefer only one. I am Clockwork, the Master of Time. In ancient history, I was one of the beings released from Pandora's Box. Time, the thing that kills kings, ruins towns, and crumbles high mountains down, as Tolkien so colorfully put it in "The Hobbit".

One year ago, a young boy, named Daniel "Danny" Fenton, was put in my charge. I had saved his family, thus setting the timeline on a different path. But I am not supposed to interfere, and because I did, he and his future became my responsibility.

But it was for the best. If that timeline had continued, the world would be a different place, and definitely _not _a better one. Death, destruction, famine, drought, the whole nine yards. Maybe three hundred people would live. At the best. All in a period of ten years.

A single person brought that on. And he was not old enough to understand the domino effects that he could set off. Now he knows, but it is hard to resist.

Perhaps I can put it in perspective. Imagine that there is a box in front of you. You have been told nothing about it. It says "Danger. Do not open."

You are alone in a small empty room with the box. You can not leave the room. You can not look out a window, for there are none. Of course, you are curious. Very curious. You will wonder what is inside of the box, and what about it is dangerous. Perhaps you know the general gist of the tale of Pandora, who was given a box and told to never open it. She did, and all spiritual evils were freed.

Would you be able to ignore the box? Be honest.

Setting off the dominoes is like being in the room with the box. It is like you must.

It is like it is fate.

But fate is parallel with time. It is only a matter of _time _before your fate is decided. Your fate can change. And time is what changes it. A little bump on the timeline can send it spinning off from the best to the worst, or vice versa.

_You will die from old age, have three children, and be rich. _Cue the bump. _You will commit suicide because all eleven of your children despise you. _

Things can change that quickly. Currently the young Fenton's fate is to die of—wait, to—ah, never mind. His is one of the most topsy-turvy fates that I have ever seen. And I assure you, I have seen a fair many.

I think I've lectured you on fate long enough. The young Fenton is the subject. Right now, he is sleeping. _Time out. _

He is curled up into a ball, as his blanket has fallen onto the floor. One of his arms is wrapped in bandages, and there is a deep cut on his cheek. Skulktech 4.5 has proven to be a challenge. He looks very innocent. _Time in._

He quickly sits up with a whimper. One must wonder what has caused this. Let us see.

_A limp body seems to be floating slightly above the ground. A young woman has hanged herself. Slowly she rocks back and forth with the slight wind that is blowing in through the open attic window. A boy is huddled in the corner. Tears are pouring down his face. He lets out a wail of anguish, and the window slams shut against his paranormal onslaught. The glass panes shatter, and moonlight twinkles around the shards. A few knick knacks float up, before falling to the ground with a loud clatter. A gust of wind billows in, causing the body to swing back and forth more quickly. The body swings to face the boy, and empty violet eyes shine in the moonlight. The boy reaches for the shotgun on the dusty dresser next to him. He puts it to his head, moans the word "Sam", and pulls the trigger._

This is an event that was prevented only three days ago. Samantha had the rope ready. She is currently hospitalized. Jasmine, Daniel's sister, had to literally drag him out of the hospital.

But what if she had been successful? What if Daniel had followed her? Would it be the end? Would Daniel's other friend, Tucker, tell the remaining Fentons about Daniel's secret? What would Samantha's parents do? There are so many questions that we will never know the answers to, as the events that would spark these questions were prevented.

What if they weren't?

How would the dream have continued?

Let me assure you, it would not have been pretty. The ghosts that Daniel had been holding back would swarm the moment they heard the news. Maddie, Jack, and Jazz Fenton would not be able to hold them back. They would be killed first. The new couple, Tucker Foley and Valerie Grey would be killed next. In a last-ditch effort, Vladimir Masters would come. He and the Guys in White would make little headway against the powerful onslaught before they would be killed.

Everyone who would stand up to them would be killed.

Depressing? Well, that is how most of the timelines that have Daniel factored into them wind up. And it is my duty to prevent these sorts of things from coming to happen.

What if I failed?

Of course, I never shall, but what if? Without anybody to keep the timeline in check, and on a straight path that eventually benefits the world, it would stray into a world of darkness that has not been seen since the days of Pariah Dark.

But of course, you do not know what those days were like. You are human, and would not still be alive had you been there. I can not put into perspective how horrible those days were. And unless you know Ghostwriter, and convinced him to let you have a ghost history book, you would not understand many of the figures in that particular instance. _Everybody _felt like the most tortured soul in all dimensions. More familiar characters would make it far more comprehensible.

If you are reading this, obviously you are aware of the Fentons and all of the other people that I have previously mentioned. Perhaps you are familiar with them. Telling the stories of what almost came to pass and what could in the future will put how horrible things were into perspective.

But be warned. The contents of these stories may include deadly rampages, broken hearts, destroyed minds and souls, blood, dark plots, rages, sex, and generally the sort of things that make this for mature people only.

And be warned for this as well. The majority of these tales end in murder, suicide, death, or perhaps all three.

And often, even worse.


	2. Pride of the Pack pt 1

**The Others  
**

A Danny Phantom Fanfiction by Annab3ll3 L33

---

**Pride of the Pack-Part 1**

"_Whether a man is burdened by power or enjoys power; whether he is trapped by responsibility or made free by it; whether he is moved by other people and outer forces or moves them — this is of the essence of leadership."-Theodore H. White_

A young Daniel Fenton has just received his abilities. He has recently mastered one of the basic ghostly abilities, an ectoplasmic energy blast. Though he has not yet met Vladimir, he has suspicions of there being other ghost hybrids on the planet.

He is quickly giving up the idea of living a normal life, and is just beginning to adjust to the fact that he will never be able to live a life like his peers.

But this is somewhat comforted by the fact that his friends don't exactly live normal lives, either. Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley. They have been his friends for just over nine years.

Samantha has parents that refuse to give into the fact that time moves forward, and that the fifties are over. They are ultra peppy and very overbearing, though they still care for their daughter. But, and be honest, would that not drive you to rebellion? Even I, the Master of Time, who have seen thousands of empires rise and fall, can not deny that the the fifties were a bit much for me. So yes, it is rather logical for Samantha to attempt to make her parents see sense. She dresses in the general Goth style, and goes for some of the more supernatural view points.

Tucker could live a perfectly normal life, and most likely be on the "A-list" if it weren't for two things. One: His obsession with technology, and two: his lack of fashion sense. When looking at it from an average teenage girl's point of view, he's not at all bad looking. Get some contacts (or at least sleeker glasses), ditch the "living in the desert" color scheme, and get an iPhone instead of thirty other knick-knacks, and he would probably be irresistible. Of course, he can not give up either.

If you really think about it, even if Daniel was completely human, it is unlikely that he would still be accepted by his peers. His parents are widely considered...absolute nutjobs, if you catch my drift. Even if their reputation has become slightly better since the Guys in White approved their ghost portal project. And in this day and age, blood is everything. If your parents are nutjobs, you must be one as well.

Daniel has just arrived home three hours after curfew. He is beaten up, and longs for sleep. His parents are sleeping on the couch, as they had fallen asleep waiting for him. Daniel smiles slightly as an idea comes to him. He sneaks up the stairs without waking his parents, and goes to bed.

---

He awakens with a stomachache. A sort of apprehensive feeling, like something big is about to happen. It is not unlike a sixth sense, something warning him that he should be ready. He bites his lip and rolls over to face the clock.

5:30 AM. Only four and a half hours of sleep? Not healthy. He lays down and attempts to get more sleep, but the feeling in his stomach will not permit him to rest. Fifteen minutes later, he grudgingly rolls off of the bed and turns off his alarm clock, which is set to go off in another fifteen minutes, at six o'clock.

He shrugs on an intact T-shirt and shoves his shoes on. He hardly glances at the mirror before he straightens his hair out, using his fingers as a makeshift comb. Crude, but effective. He doesn't look like he just emerged from World War II anymore.

As he still has a bit of time to kill, he finishes a math sheet on the quadratic formula before going downstairs. His mother is waiting for him at the table. "Danny, where were you last night?"

He feigns surprise in a completely honest appearing way. "I was doing my homework in my room. I came home at about...nine, was it? I guess you just didn't notice."

His mother narrows her eyes. "We came up to see if you were there. You weren't."

Daniel thinks fast. "It was some memorization work. You ever heard the method of locking yourself in a dark closet and repeating it over and over again? That's what I was doing." Inside, Daniel feels guilty. He has gotten so good at lying, it is almost natural. "When I came down to say goodnight, you were already asleep. And I didn't want to wake you up."

Maddie gives up. "Well, alright then." She pours herself a cup of coffee. "So, what has you up before your alarm goes off?"

"Tension," Daniel says quickly, opening the cupboard and looking for anything to eat for breakfast. "We have an English test today. Thankfully it's the last one before spring break."

Maddie jumps, recalling what they had wanted to tell Daniel about last night. The movement does not go unnoticed by Daniel, who gives her an apprehensive look. "Something bothering you, Mom?"

She waves away the suggestion. "No, no, nothing's wrong. I just forgot about this..." she rummages through a stack of papers, consisting of petitions for funding, letters from family, and electricity bills. Finally she pulls out a fancy looking flyer. "A college friend of ours, Vlad Masters, invited us to a college reunion. It takes place on Tuesday, so we could leave Sunday, get there Monday and get to spend quality time with Vlad, and the shindig is on Tuesday, so we'd have that. We could leave Wednesday, get back there Thursday, and then have resting time the rest of the weekend. How does that sound?"

A chill runs down Daniel's spine at the name, but he ignores it. He shrugs, rummaging through the cupboard for a mug. _'A ghost free weekend? Sounds good to me,'_ he thinks. Out loud he says "Sounds fun." He finds a mug and pours himself a cup of coffee as well.

Maddie looks flustered. "Oh Danny, don't drink that! I don't want you to be hooked..." But her protests fall on deaf ears. He takes a sip.

"Mom, I was doing that memorization work until one. I won't make it through the day without something with caffeine."

She sighs, reaching for the cream. "Well, at least dilute it a little bit," she suggests in a slightly pleading tone. Daniel pushes it away.

"No thanks, I prefer it straight." He downs the rest of the mug. "Well...I'm going to miss the bus if I stay any longer..." he slings his backpack over his shoulder. "Bye!"

He breaks into a run the moment he thinks he might be our of earshot, and Maddie smiles.

---

"_Vlad Masters?_ " Tucker asks incredulously. "_The _Vlad Masters?"

Daniel raises an eyebrow. "That's what they said. I dunno of any others. But the name makes me nervous..."

Tucker starts typing on his laptop. "There's a Vlad Masters--"

"Will you stop saying his name!?!" Daniel yells angrily. Tucker blinks.

"What is up with you today?" he asks nervously. Daniel shakes his head, dispelling paranoid thoughts.

"It's nothing."

Tucker gives Daniel a calculating look over the top of the laptop. Finally, he lets out a noisy breath and turns the screen in Daniel's direction. "Read this. Somehow, I think this _Vlad Masters _is the _Vlad Masters _your parents were talking about." He ignores the death glare Daniel sends him and turns on his MP3 player.

Daniel can not help being intrigued by the webpage, and begins reading.

_Vladimir "Vlad" Masters is a very wealthy Wisconsin native. When an experiment pertaining to an alleged "Ghost Prota-Portal" in college with colleagues Jack Fenton and Maddie Keis hospitalized him for three years, he mapped out how he wanted his life to go, and became a billionaire. When asked about what he thinks his life would have been like if the accident were not to have happened, he chuckled and sat back in his leather chair. "In all honesty, I don't like to think about that. All I know for sure is that it is because of the accident that I became wealthy, and Jack is in my eternal gratitude. Which is why I am hosting a college reunion in one month, inviting all of my old college friends from U of W." The interviewer then asked for an invitation, and Vlad refused to answer any more questions._

"Kind of tactless," Daniel mutters, "kissing up to the rich man. But yeah, this is probably the guy." He looks up at Tucker, who has his eyes closed and is listening to something by Weird Al. "Hey Tuck?" Tucker opens his eyes and moves his headphones to around his neck. "This says he had an accident...with a ghost portal..."

Tucker catches what he means. "Danny, the odds that you would get ghost powers from an unstable portal were a million to one. The odds that two people would get the same result are a _trillion _to one."

Samantha chooses this moment to join her friends. "Hey guys. Thanks for waiting for me. I shouldn't have gotten detention for pointing out the teacher was wrong..." she says. She spots the webpage. "Hey, why are you reading about Vlad--"

"_Don't say his name!_ "

Samantha raises an eyebrow at his hostile reaction. "You okay?" she asks.

Daniel nods. "Fine. He just..." he seems at a loss for words. "He gives me a bad feeling," he says lamely.

Tucker looks hurt, but if you knew him, you would know that he was either joking, or about to make a joke about how Daniel and Samantha like each other. "Dan-_ny..._you told me you were just _fine_!" Samantha gives him a put-off look, aware of what was coming next. "Does you twust _Sammy_ more than _me_?"

Daniel steals his red beret and pushes him down. "I can _get away_ with lying to you. Sam can read me like a book."

Tucker stands up, brushing bits of grass and dirt off of his shirt. "And I wonder why that is..." he says sarcastically.

Daniel tosses the beret to Samantha, who begins running in the opposite direction. Tucker's eyes widen fearfully, and he slams his laptop shut, shoves it in his backpack, slides it on, and begins to run after her. Daniel laughs, and it is cut short by blue mist fogging the air around his mouth. "Dammit," he whispers, backing into a wall. He does not shout his battle cry, because there are most likely people on the other side of the wall that would hear him.

He takes a deep breath, and lets the cold yet relaxing feeling that is normally bottled up in the back of his mind flow loose. In a flash of light mostly contained by the insulation of the wall, the human becomes a ghost.

A black and white blur soars from apparently out of a wall.

Daniel flies up to get a birds' eye view of the town. Samantha is running around the school, Tucker following. No activity that he can see...

Three green blurs shoot past. Danny blinks before shooting off after them. When he comes within their range, the feeling of foreboding increases. The ghosts are large green vultures. Wearing fezzes.

"Any sign of him?" one shouts.

"Ve're vorking on it!" the largest replies.

"Yes, keep your 'air on!" the last vulture adds.

Without warning, all three soar downwards. Daniel almost loses sight of them, but large glowing green blobs are easy to spot against a black street. He catches up, and gets their attention. "Hey, you three look lost. Any chance you'll stay that way?"

"Cram it!" vulture #1 shouts.

"Abel, be polite. Maybe zis child can 'elp us!" vulture #3 responds, slowing to a stop. Daniel crosses his arms expectantly.

The second vulture sighs and floats forward. Daniel raises an eyebrow. "Ve are on a search and destroy mission. Can you help us find, and peck to death, this fella here?" he pulls out a tattered photograph corner.

Daniel gasps. He knows the man. "Dad?" he mutters, grabbing the photo. Indeed, it is his father, albeit younger. And with a shaggier hairstyle. He looks up at the waiting vultures. "He looks familiar. If you don't mind me asking, why do you need to...um...kill him?"

The first vulture, Abel, shrugs. "Plasmius knows what he's doing. And he said something about this guy being an insensitive bumbling moron that ruined his life."

"And Plasmius is?"

Abel is going to respond, but vulture #3 covers his beak with a wing. "Zis child obviously does not know zis man. You 'ave given up too much information already. Let us dispose of 'im and continue on."

Vulture #2 glares at #3. "Vye are you so violent? Ve vere only given orders to find and destroy theman. Leave this mere child alone."

_'Mere child?' _Daniel thinks angrily. "I'm not a kid, you know," he says.

All three vultures look at him. "Vatever," #3 says, turning to fly away. Then he squawks as a bright green light goes directly through his stomach. The vulture vanishes.

The other two suddenly look far more afraid. "Um...Bill, look what he did to Borris..."

#2, Bill, doesn't seem to care. "Let's destroy 'im."

Two well-aimed ecto blasts melted them, leaving Daniel unscathed. He looks down at the photograph. He flips it over. Written on the side is a short message. "_Me with Jack and Ma--_" the rest was cut off. There was a watermarked date on the corner. _9-12-1987_.

Daniel bites his lip. "Dad would have been in...college!"

"_an experiment pertaining to an alleged "Ghost Prota-Portal" in college with colleagues Jack Fenton and Maddie Keis hospitalized him for three years" "...an old college friend..."_

His eyes widen in realization. One word escapes his lips.

"Dammit."


	3. Pride of the Pack pt 2

**The Others**

A Danny Phantom Fanfiction by Annab3ll3 L33

---

**Pride of the Pack-Part 2**

"_Whether a man is burdened by power or enjoys power; whether he is trapped by responsibility or made free by it; whether he is moved by other people and outer forces or moves them — this is of the essence of leadership."-Theodore H. White_

"Will you listen to reason? It all fits together!"

"Danny, this is nuts. I told you--"

"Listen to me!"

"Sam, let him have his say."

"_Thank you! _Masters and my parents were friends in college, right?"

"Yeah, but--"

"--and even _then_, they were obsessed with ghosts, right?"

"Dude, I can't imagine your parents ever _not _being obsessed with ghosts."

"Yeah, true. So, they try to build a ghost portal. Something goes wrong, Masters gets fried and hospitalized."

"Danny--"

"Sam, let him talk! He's starting to make sense."

"Masters becomes half ghost, and--"

"_DANNY!_"

"Just _listen_, dammit! He wants revenge because he thinks my dad killed him! He sends those ghosts after him to try to kill him, and the reunion is a backup plan!"

Daniel looks back and forth at his two friends. Tucker looks considering, Samantha just looks annoyed. She starts to speak. "Danny, you sound like your father. Paranoid about ghosts?"

With an annoyed huff, Daniel's forehead almost meets the table with enough force to knock him out. Thankfully, his head becomes intangible just before it makes contact, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

"Smooth," Tucker says, before hesitantly stating his mind. "Well, that does make sense, but it just seems too unlikely for there to be more than one ghost-human hybrid...it's as unlikely as black being Sam's natural--OW!"

"Her parents dye theirs, Tuck. I've seen the boxes in their bathroom."

"And...why were you in my parent's bathroom?" Samantha asks suspiciously, removing her foot from on top of Tucker's.

Tucker smirks. "He was watching your mom strip." He then withers under the fluorescent green stare of his buddy.

"For your information," Daniel states in a creepily even tone, "Skulker threw me into the house while we were fighting."

A glint of green remains in his eyes as he returns to his nasty burger. "So then, to get away from Tucker's perverted mind, it's _very _likely that Masters is a ghost-human thing."

Samantha sighs and picks at her salad. "Well, you can think that Danny. It just seems too unlikely to me."

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I can move things with my mind."

"Really?"

"See? That's not how you responded to my idea that Masters is a ghost. You blatantly refused the idea. And no, I can't really. But it would be pretty cool."

Tucker hides a laugh by stuffing his face with his Mighty Meaty Meal. He then spits it out and starts hacking.

"Tucker, knock it off," Daniel says moodily.

He continues to cough. Finally Daniel stands up, and pounds Tucker on the back. A big glob of what might have once been beef splatters onto his wrapper. Daniel makes a disgusted face before picking up Tucker's tray and walking over to the trash bin and dumping it in, holding the tray at arm's length. He slides the now empty tray onto the shelf above the bin and walks back over to his friends, who were now arguing about vegetarianism.

"See? You can't choke on vegetables."

"Really?"

Tucker fills his mouth with Samantha's salad, trying to swallow without chewing. Immediately, he begins to hack again. Daniel and Samantha stare at him, attempting to comprehend how uncharacteristically _stupid _that action was. After a long minute, Daniel once again pounds him on the back, this time sending what can still be identified as a salad onto the table.

"Dude?" Daniel asks as Tucker wipes his mouth.

"Yeah?"

"That was freaking _retarded_!" both Daniel and Samantha shout, startling several people and causing them to look in the direction of the trio.

"And I'm not picking that up," Daniel adds, nodding at the regurgitated salad.

"Well, at least you can tell it was a salad," Samantha points out, "Unlike your mini Lunch-Lady."

"But I _proved _you can choke on a salad!"

"What you did was one of the most imbecilic, idiotic, and overall _stupid _things you've ever done! Not counting that time you told me Ricky Marsh threw up in my lunchbox and I kicked him off the monkeybars."

Tucker glares at her and then looks at Daniel. "Couldn't you have used a different group expirience? Um, dude?"

Daniel is apparently looking at something that Samantha and Tucker can not see. "Danny?" Tucker asks again, looking wary. Samantha begins to poke him. "Oy! Danny!" Tucker calls.

"Huh-wha?" Daniel says, coming out of his trance.

"Never mind," Tucker says. He moves his hand like he is about to grab a burger, and then looks down sadly. Samantha gives him a pitying smile before turning to Daniel.

"Danny, just go with it. If He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is a ghost, then bring back some sort of proof, and we'll believe you."

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Daniel asks, amused. Samantha rolls her eyes.

"So I like Harry Potter."

"And you call me a geek," Tucker mutters.

---

"I spy something--"

"The sky."

"Danny, how'd you know?"

"You've already said sand. Twice, actually."

Maddie glances back at her annoyed son, who is staring out the window with an expression that could either be boredom, or exhaustion. Or both. "Fine then, smarty. What do you spy?"

Daniel rolls his eyes and tries to find something than the stretch of desert that his family is currently driving through. "I spy..." Something catches his eye. "Is that a _sniper_?"

Jasmine looks up from "Psychology for the High School Student" and stares out the window.

"Danny, that's insane. There aren't any gunman out here; it's the middle of nowh-"

**Crack.**

The Ghost Assault Vehicle suddenly veers off course, and Daniel sees the ripped off treads fly behind them. Everything begins to bump upside down, and Daniel's teeth knock into each other as he holds on for dear life. Jack tries to keep the vehicle steady, without much success. They hit a boulder, sending the GAV tumbling over onto its side.

Daniel's hand brushes a button, and yet another noise joins the already chaotic ensemble. Alarms blare, and a computerized voice announces that there is a ghost in the vehicle. Nobody pays attention to that, as the engine has locked, and the brake is not working. The GAV is driving in circles on it's side, slowly making progress towards a practical wall that marked where the state had enough money to begin marking that the highway was in the city boundaries.

Even if the vehicle wasn't on it's side, the family probably would be doomed, anyways. The loud sirens have finally registered in the minds of the family. All four occupants had their hands clamped over their ears, and Jasmine is screaming "Make it stop, make it stop!"

**Crash.**

The front of the GAV makes direct contact with the wall. Jack, who isn't wearing his seatbelt, is thrust forward at the exact same time the airbag inflates.

There's a lesson for you: Always wear your seatbelt.

Anyway, Jack's head meets the airbag in an at best traumatizing, but most likely fatal, way. For a man in his forties, it is fatal.

The bag doesn't only snap _back_ Jack's neck, it _snaps _his neck. His head goes flying off, and lands in the lap of his son.

Daniel has managed to keep relatively calm. Relatively. He has kept silent, and is braced for the crash. But he is not braced for this.

At the feeling of something hard hitting his stomach and bouncing into his lap, after the huge tremor that meant the crash, he opens his eyes. Something fuzzy is sitting in his lap. He picks it up and turns it around.

And screams.

Jasmine looks over at her brother.

And screams.

Maddie blinks and twists around in her chair. She sees her daughter screaming, and looks where she is looking.

And screams.

Daniel screams the longest, never dropping his father's head. Blood pours into his lap, and dead blue eyes watch him unseeingly.

The most terrifying thing is the sheer solidity of his father's head. It seems to mock Daniel, screaming "Hey, look! I'm real!".

After a minute that lasts several eternities, Daniel drops the head and pulls his legs up to his chin. The GAV is still on it's side, so when he drops the head, it starts to roll to Jasmine. She screeches and unbuckles her seatbelt, scrambling for her mother.

"God, oh god, oh god," Daniel whispers. He rocks back and forth. "This can't be happening, it's not real, it's not real."

Sirens can be heard in the distance. Daniel notices them first, and looks up. He smells something. "Smoke," he whispers. With shaking hands, he unbuckles his seat belt and walks to the windshield, doing his best to ignore his dad's body. A small flicker of light. Fire.

"We need to get out of here," he says quietly. His mother and sister don't seem to hear him. "Mom, we need to get out of here. There's fire. If it hits the fuel tank...we all go," he finishes sadly.

She looks up, tears streaming down her cheeks. "No...Jack's gone. There's nothing left for me in this world..."

"MOM!" Daniel yells. She jumps, startlesd at her son's sudden anger. "You still have your kids. And we need you to be strong, too. If our own mother can't help us, then who can?"

She shakes her head. Jasmine looks at her, and then pulls away. She stumbles over to Daniel. "Mom, Danny's right. We need you. You're...you're not thinking straight. Let's get out of this deathtrap."

She only moans.

Daniel's fists clench and his eyes turn a startling, ghostly, green. He grabs his mother by her forearm and turns her intangible, yanking her out of her seatbelt. Or at any rate, he tries to. The moment he turns his arm intangible, the sirens start blaring again.

_**Ghost detected. Beginning elimination process. **_

An ecto-gun dislodges itself from the wall, shooting Daniel. "Fuck!" he screams, stumbling into something big and orange. He turns around, and then looks away. His dad's body.

He then grabs Jasmine's arm and pulls her to the trunk. "You try and get this open," he says. "I need to get Mom..."

But Maddie is already up. She is hugging the husk of her husband, still sobbing. Daniel quickly makes his way over to her.

"Mom..." he puts his hand on her shoulder. "Mom, come on. We need to get out."

"You can go..." she whispers insanely. "I want to be with him. Please."

Daniel backs away. He is angry. She is going to kill herself! "Fine," he growls. "Be an ass. Leave your children. Goodbye." He turns on his heel and storms away. Then he stops, looks behind him at his mother, and whispers one last thing. "Bye."

There is a loud, creaking noise from the front of the vehicle, and he breaks into a run. He grabs Jasmine and punches the back window, shattering it. They then tumble out, into the smoky air..

Jasmine falls to the ground outside. "Mom," she whispers. "Oh my god, Mom..."

"Get up," Daniel says angrily. "I can try to get her, but she won't probably won't let me. But I'll try, anyway..."

He turns into his ghostly form and darts in.

"That made no sense," Jasmine whispers, before running a good thirty yards away from the GAV.

Daniel yanks his mother by her arm, but she swats him away. "Mom!" Daniel shouts. She doesn't even turn around as she strikes him hard across his face. "Mom?" he asks, holding his now bleeding nose.

"Leave me!" she bellows. "I want to be with him, I want him..."

"Mom, come on!"

"Go away, you motherfuckin' bastard!"

"You are my mother!"

"GO AWAY!"

Daniel floats backward, terrified. He turns back into Daniel Fenton, hoping that it will get his mother's attention. She glances at him, the turns back to her husband. Fresh tears run down Daniel's cheeks, and he stares at her for a long time. "Fine. Goodbye."

Suddenly a red glow comes from the windshield, and Daniel runs back to the trunk. He grabs his father's head along the way. It is impulsive, he does it without thinking.

As Daniel reaches his sister, the GAV explodes, sending twisted pieces of scrap metal flying everywhere. A large part of the vehicle that holds the wheels lands a few feet away from the two children.

"Mom," Jasmine whispers, falling to her knees. "Mom..."

Daniel just stares at the destruction with his jaw set. He holds up Jack's head, looking into his eyes. "Well, she's with you now," he says quietly. "Good for you."

He then throws the head on the ground, and, in a fit of rage, blasts it. He is furious. Both of his parents, dead. Gone. Kaput. Now where will he go? What about Jasmine?

The ectoblast turns a shade of red a bit darker than the color of blood. This has a different effect on the head. It begins to melt, the features blurring together and becoming unrecognizable. The hair singes, and eventually all that is left is a small pile of ashes, which are quickly blown away by the wind.

Jasmine whimpers from the ground next to him.

He ignores it, stalking over to the hunk of vehicle. With a blank look, he kneels down to examine the wheels. All of them are still moving slightly, except two of them. He leans closer. Something is keeping them from moving. A bullet. There is a small bullet lodged directly between the two wheels, making it so that the steering would go out of control.

"Jazz..." he moans. Jasmine looks up. Her makeup is blurred, making her look like a zombie. "Someone meant for this to happen..."

"What?" Jasmine asks shakily, pulling herself up and walking over.

"A bullet. That sniper you said wasn't there...he did this. Masters..."

The sirens are getting louder. Daniel yanks the bullet out of its spot and puts it in his pocket.

"Danny...Mom and Dad...they're dead.They're dead."

Daniel knows this. He knows it, and he accepts it. But he won't accept that the man who did this is still out there. Daniels fist closes around the bullet in his pocket.

He will find Masters.

He will find Masters, and make him pay.

---

"I must say, I am so sorry about your parents," the silver haired man said.

Jasmine nods weakly, but Daniel gives him a glare that would make a rottweiler back down. He swallows a breath that he could tell carried his ghost sense. Oh how he wants to kill the smug man in front of him...but he can't. Not with Jasmine watching. She is already traumatized enough.

Not only that. He wants to make the man suffer. Suffer, and then die.

"I'll show you to your rooms. You'll be staying here until the papers are sorted out. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Jack has left you two to me, we were such good friends..."

A quiet snarl escapes Daniel's mouth, as well as a bit of icy fog; Masters doesn't seem to notice.

He leads them through the many halls with the green and gold décor.

"I have, of course, called off the reunion. The death of Maddie is too tragic. And Jack's too. I suppose that's only fair..."

Jasmine nods again, it is obvious she is not really listening. But Daniel is listening with rapt attention. Anything that could be used against him was helpful. Even as Masters rambles off into an oblivion ending with something about the Packers, Daniel is listening.

It is obvious to him that Masters is behind his parents' deaths. But it is also obvious that he only meant for Jack to die.

"This is your room, my dear," Masters says, pushing open the door to reveal a large room that reeked of cash.

"Mmkay," Jasmine says, slowly walking into the room. She lays down on the bed, and stares at the ceiling.

Masters continues to walk, and Daniel walks behind him.

"Really, Daniel. I am sorry about your parents. It must be horrible for you..."

"Shut up, bastard," Daniel mutters to himself. Masters ignores him.

"Maddie, especially. I never expected her to die so soon."

"Shut up!" Daniel shouts. But it does not sound like his voice...it sounds like a chorus of voices. Masters hears him this time, and becomes silent. He doesn't say anything about the odd sound Daniel had made.

Masters opens another door, and doesn't say anything. Daniel raises an eyebrow and walks in.

The room is almost exactly the same as the others, except this one has a skylight. The sun is going down, and stars are beginning to show their faces. Daniel is taken aback by the beauty of the clear Wisconsin sky for a brief moment before he turns around. Masters is gone.

With a sigh, Daniel pulls out his cell phone and dials Samantha's number.

She picks up on the fourth ring. "Hey Danny! How's Wisconsin?"

He glares at a patch of ceiling. "Horrid," he spits.

"Huh?"

"He killed my parents! They're dead!"

"Wait, what?"

"Masters! He killed them! He killed them both..."

"Your parents? They're--"

"Yes, Sam! They're _dead_! Both of them. Dad got decapitated by the air bag, and Mom punched me in the face before letting herself die..."

"Danny, are you okay?"

"What do you think?" he says irritably, eyeing a fly that is buzzing around his head.

"I think you've either gone off the deep end, or you're telling the truth. Which one is it?"

"It's the truth! I held his fucking head, Sam. I have a bruised nose where she struck me..."

"Oh..." she is silent for a long period of time before she speaks again. "Where are you staying?"

"With the asshole that killed them."

"How do you--"

"Don't start that again, Sam. My ghost sense goes off around him. The way he talks about it...I'm surprised the cops didn't arrest him when they brought us here."

"Danny...I'm so sorry."

"Sam, please don't hate me for this, but..." he sighs. He needs to know what Samantha thinks. He is so confused. Killing is wrong, but he wants to kill Masters. He wants to see the life leave his eyes. If he kills that horrid man, than can he still be considered a good person?

"Is killing wrong?"

Silence. "Danny, why are you asking me this?"

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, I put that wrong. Is...is killing someone who killed both your parents and drove your sister insane okay?"

"..."

"Sam?"

"...Jazz is insane?"

Daniel frowns. "She's not acting right. She just stares at things that I apparently can't see. It's scary. And she barely talks."

"She's hurt, Danny. Her...her parents just died."

"I don't think that's it..."

"What is it then?"

Daniel watches the fly as it lands on the windowsill. He feels guilty. "I could have saved my mom. But she wouldn't let me. I was so mad...I left her to die. I could have saved her. I think Jazz knows this, and is angry at me..."

"Danny..." he hears a sigh. "Don't ask me about these things. You'd have to ask Jazz. Maybe Tucker, but he's not exactly the one to ask about moral values. Or maybe your mo...never mind."

The fly takes off again, this time clinking against the skylight.

"I want to kill him."


End file.
